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Metal detector knows how much cash is in your wallet

“It has long been an urban legend that the security strips found in US banknotes let shadowy government agencies use metal detectors to track how much cash you are carrying. Now it seems the conspiracy theory may have been half right: it is possible to both detect and count concealed banknotes printed with magnetic inks. Physicists Christopher Fuller and Antao Chen at the University of Washington in Seattle realised that large bundles of notes would contain enough magnetic material to be detected at a distance, potentially allowing police to catch people attempting to smuggle cash over the border.” Continue reading →

Not All Insurers Game for State Exchanges: The Consumer Impact

“As more insurers decide to pack up and leave certain states as health exchanges start to take form, experts say consumers are going to be left feeling the pain. Over the last few weeks, several departure announcements have sent a ripple through the health insurance industry, as companies weigh whether or not they want to play ball under Obamacare. So far, California has experienced the biggest migration with Aetna (AET), UnitedHealthcare (UNH) and Cigna (CI) leaving the state’s exchange, Covered California. Fifteen states and D.C. are in the process of creating their insurance exchanges before the 2014 deadline; when individuals must purchase insurance or face a fine.” Continue reading →

JP Morgan is Taking Delivery of Silver. Why?

“The commodity futures market allows speculators to bet against each other on where the prices of commodities are headed. Participants make money by out-guessing their competitors. Only about 3% of the contracts ever result in delivery of the physical commodity. The speculators don’t want the commodities. They just want the price action. All of a sudden, without warning, JP Morgan is demanding delivery of silver — not money. This is never done. Well, almost never. Bunker Hunt tried that in 1979, and the COMEX changed the rules. He was trying to squeeze the silver market. The COMEX opted out. Hunt lost billions of dollars.” Continue reading →

Rights groups challenge widespread Internet spying in France

“Lawyers said the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights League would file the ‘complaint against X’ in Paris. Under French law, such complaints allow investigators to pursue a wide-ranging probe that does not target any particular individual or company. Daoud told France Info radio the complaint was aimed at determining whether ‘the companies made their servers available to the FBI and NSA’ for collection of personal data. If so, he said, the companies could face criminal charges in France of violating data protection and privacy rules.” Continue reading →

U.S. to deliver F-16 fighters to Egypt despite recent upheaval

“The United States is pressing ahead with plans to deliver four F-16 fighters to Egypt despite a military coup against President Mohammed Morsi. ‘It’s still the status quo,’ the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. There was no decision to halt the scheduled transfer of the warplanes or to cut off other security assistance to Egypt, the official said, even though the US government has announced a review of all aid to Cairo. The State Department said previously planned assistance would continue to flow to Egypt. ‘We’re still paying our bills, of course, and all of the programs are still moving forward,’ spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.” Continue reading →

Phone companies earn big profits as Uncle Sam’s wiretapping merchants

“AT&T and Verizon are the two carriers making the most off this scheme, CBS notes, but others are getting in on the action as well. Verizon is particularly pricey, charging the government $775 to connect a wiretap, and another $500 every month it stays connected. AT&T comes in second with a $325 activation fee, along with a $10-a-day running tab. Smaller carriers like Cricket are said to charge around $250 per connection. Smaller fees were associated with text messages, but emails were largely given away for free.” Continue reading →

Austrian Steelmaker Offshores Production To … Texas

“Like many titans, the company is under pressure to increase profits while revenues are declining. Hence the need to cut costs. One solution: offshoring to cheap countries! The company announced in its annual report that it would undertake ‘its largest ever foreign investment – construction of a direct reduction plant,’ not in cheap countries like China or Indonesia, but in Texas. The plant will employ 150 people. The price of natural gas in the US is ‘about one quarter of the price in Europe,’ the company conceded. It would allow the company to produce low-cost HBI for its plants in Linz and Donawitz and ensure ‘their competitiveness in the long term.'” Continue reading →

Revealed: How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages

“Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal; […]; The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide; […] Skype, which was bought by Microsoft in October 2011, worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video of conversations as well as audio; Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a ‘team sport’.” Continue reading →